India’s Bharti Airtel is set to Warid Telecom Uganda after entering an agreement with Warid Group. After this acquisition, Airtel Uganda will strengthen its position as the second largest mobile operators in  Uganda with around 7.5 million subscribers and 40% market share after MTN. The agreement is subject to approvals from relevant state authorities.

Bharti Airtel Uganda has around 4.6 million subscribers while Warid Telecom has 2.9 million.

Regarding the agreement, Manoj Kohli, MD and CEO (International), Bharti Airtel said, “This happens to be the first in-market acquisition in Bharti Airtel’s history. We believe this market consolidation offers great synergies by bringing together the best of Airtel and Warid to better serve customers in Uganda.”

Bharti Airtel with over 62 million subscribers in Africa, has footprints in 17 countries in the continent.

I have been getting complaints from users of various communication services. I got this from one Nokia phone user. The guy is basically highlighting what most people who visit such care centres go through. Since Nokia know that they are losing the market, they never give a f$%^# about what you think of them.

Read for yourself and judge.

Hi Robert,

Good Afternoon.

Ever seeked the services of the Nokia Care Center (at Hilton Hotel Ground Floor on Mama Ngina Street)? I was there on Monday, and I asked this lady at the service counter a simple question: How much would you charge me to back-up my Nokia Phone contacts to my Flashdisk? Just then as I was asking her I received a phone call; I picked it and told my caller I’ll return his call later. I continued my query to the lady and she responded that she would need to ask the technicians at the back office.

She went back there, opened my phone battery backside purporting she was looking for the memory card, all this while my phone was On, and without asking for my permission to open my phone. She came back and told me that was not possible, but then I looked at my phone which is a dual-sim, one SIM card was not reading. at first I thought she’d removed the SIM Card, but it was there. So I removed it, put it back, but still not reading sim 2 which was my main access line. I switched SIM cards on both slots and realized slot 2 was not reading.

So I asked the lady: Did you open my phone while it was On, she said NO. She lied. She just said she opened my phone and brought it back to me while still On. My phone would asked her for my SIM 2 PIN. The sim slot 2 wasn’t reading the SIM. The minute she realized her mistake, she started being overbearing in her speech and couldn’t let me talk. Feeling disrespected I requested to talk to the Branch Manager. A lady came over and assumed to be in-charge. I talked her thru my ordeal with her colleague/staff, but it fell on deaf ears & pointless. All she did was support her all the way.

Feeling discontent and angry at the disrespectful manner I was treated I left cause it could get worse than it was. I couldn’t make calls and couldn’t receive any. I missed a dinner date as my new found lady friend couldn’t raise me on phone. She sent me a text message which I never received in that space of time as we were yet to agree on where in Westlands we would do dinner. I’m not sure suing Nokia for my headache is something I should consider, but all I know is Never I’m I spending my hard earned money on a Nokia Experience.

What makes me so mad I’d that this Nokia Care Center Branch Manager – the least she could do is have my phone checked and resolve the malfunction the customer care lady caused, by, without permission opening up my Nokia phone and lying about it. Now I can’t afford to buy another phone at the current state I’m in, and since I’ve been so loyal to Nokia, I’m not sure it’s a better option, considering this is the after-sales service I’ll experience.

I narrated my yesterday bad experience to our Office Taxi Driver today, and to my surprise he had a response to it: he had a similar experience at the same Nokia Care Service Center, having spent more money to repair his boss’s expensive phone than it actually cost. Now, I realized they tampered with my phone to get repair business money from me – not happening! Not even after fantasizing about the new Lumnia 920.

Please post this, as I don’t want someone else to go thru what I was put thru.

Thank you.

Jonathan.
+254727570276
Sent from my iPad

What do you think? This is real.

Orange Kenya has reduced its off-net mobile calling and SMS rates starting at midnight tonight.

The new tarrif offer, dubbed Tujuane, reduces the off-net calling rates to KSh 3 per minute down from KSh 4 per minute. Orange mobile customers will also enjoy a 50 percent reduction on on-net and off-net SMS rates, down to KSh 1 from KSh 2. The cost of Orange-to-Orange calls remains consistent at KSh. 2 per minute and this includes calls from Orange Mobile to the company’s fixed line network.

Customers that are currently subscribed to bundled offerings on Orange will still the benefits of the new Tujuane tariffs. When not subscribed to a bundle offer, they will automatically roll onto this new pricing plan.

Tujuane, which is valid till May 31, 2013, is available 24-hours at no subscription fee making it attractive to entry level users who, typically, have less disposable income.

As additional value, Tujuane comes with free access to Facebook Zero as well as to Wikipedia, the world’s largest online encyclopedia.

Nokia and Airtel have announced a partnership agreement across Africa to drive closer collaboration and deliver increased consumer value. The agreement, which incorporates areas such as the provision of Nokia Life services, Xpress Browser and Nokia Store Operator Billing for purchases from Nokia Store in key countries, makes it easier and more cost effective for Airtel subscribers to access a range of value adding services.

A key part of the agreement is the provision of Nokia Life services, already available in Nigeria and launching in Kenya this month. The services, which are delivered as richly formatted SMS messages, bring relevant, timely and personalised information to consumers at a far lower cost than other sources. Information is customized and designed to meet basic needs in areas such as education, agriculture, healthcare, livelihood and even spirituality. The content brings real benefits, such as information for expectant mothers in rural areas who may not have regular access to clinics or pre-natal care.

Since its launch in India, Nokia Life has been experienced by more than 95 million people in 18 local languages including those in Nigeria. Nokia and Airtel looks to extend the Nokia Life experience to the East African market, starting with Kenya.

Airtel and Nokia have also partnered to offer integrated billing solutions for Nokia Store in both Nigeria and Kenya. Customers will be able to download top local and global paid apps and games from Nokia Store and pay for their downloads as part of their monthly mobile phone bills or have the amount deducted from their pre-paid balance. Payment for the downloads will be in local currency.

The two providers will also collaborate in the provision of Nokia Xpress Browser for Airtel customers in Nigeria and Kenya. Xpress Browser is Nokia’s cloud-based platform for delivering a better internet experience on a number of mobile devices, including the new Asha range. The cloud-acceleration technology compresses information by up to 90% to increase download speeds, reduce data costs and render pages in a format specially designed for mobile phones.

As many African consumers will experience the internet for the first time from their mobile phone, the customised Nokia Xpress Browser is a valuable tool for Airtel subscribers in Kenya and Nigeria, whether they are seeking basic information, running their small business, or using social media to stay in touch.

Telecommunications services provider, Orange, has reduced the prices of various voice and data devices available at its shops. With this offer, Orange Kenya customers can now purchase the entry level and high end mobile phones, data devices and desk phones at reduced costs from Orange shops and partner outlets countrywide.

The price change affects a host of essential devices including: the Smartax MT880 ADSL modem from KSh 8,500 to KSh 2,999; the SunTab tablet at KSh 19,999 down from KSh 23,999, pre-loaded with an Orange SIM card as well as one-month unlimited internet on mobile; the Samsung Galaxy S Duos at KSh 21,499 from KSh 22,999; Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini i8190 at KSh 27,999 from KSh 29,999 and the Nokia 305 whose price has been reduced to KSh 6,899 from KSh 7,299.

These changes translate to a reduction of between 5% and 65% in price.

A new payment processing solution called Paygate has been launched. Through the system, users in Kenya and Tanzania can now use M-Pesa for online shopping for goods and services.

According to Robin Philip, Marketing Director for PayGate, “There is very little e-commerce activity in many African countries. But that’s not because people don’t want to be able to buy online – they just haven’t been given the right payment options.”

Though other factors like lack of awareness and trust on virtual shopping affect the use of the same, Paygat believe that it is the lack of proper payment solutions which is affecting the adoption.

“Imagine a customer who wants to buy computer equipment or vouchers online,” says Philip. “If the merchant has enabled M-Pesa, the customer can choose that as a payment option when they go to check out. We give them the merchant’s M-Pesa account information, they make the payment using their phone, we process it and tell the merchant so they can complete the transaction.”

Tanzanian airline FastJet is among the first clients of Paygate. They now offer M-Pesa payments for online bookings.

France Telecom, Orange, has signed a and exclusive partnership with Chinese internet company, Baidu, to develop a co-branded internet browser for smartphone customers in Africa, the Middle East and Asia (AMEA). This is the Chinese company’s first global partnership but the deal is part of Orange and Baidu’s aim to make the mobile web available for all in emerging markets.

Orange has a mobile customer base in AMEA of nearly 80 million customers which is very enticing to companies like Baidu. Smartphones use in the market is also increasing with Android registering a double of its penetration in Egypt alone.

The deal with Orange will see Baidu browser offer a highly customisable but simple interface for customers in AMEA, enabling them to access web-based apps and internet services unique to Baidu and Orange, as well as services like Wikipedia, Facebook or Twitter, amongst others. Customers benefit from a new, feature rich user interface that provides one-click access to all of their preferred local and global services but also benefit from a browser that is much faster and more data efficient compared to other browsers, reducing the amount of data consumed by 30-90% depending on the types of services and files accessed.

Orange and Baidu have already developed an Arabic and English browser is launching for Egypt’s Mobinil customers. Both companies are now working to launch French versions of the browser for countries across Orange’s African & Middle East footprint.

A very unfortunate way the government want to handle the issue of SIM card registration. We need not have a government full of people who cannot face the real problems and solve them. First the government allowed porting of numbers, When few dominant operators sabotaged the whole exercise, Ministry of Information and Communication PS Bitange Ndemo was on the side of the saboteurs issuing threats to the operators which were complying with the regulations.

Then the digital migration exercise where all media players were expected to move their broadcast to the digital regime. The mainstream media sabotaged the whole exercise even paying some fool called Stephen Mutoro who owns a briefcase NGO called Consumers Kenya to stop the migration and demand that the government give the broadcasters more time. This time, Bitange did nothing and went on some hypocritical rant on social media until the good Judge Lenaola warned him that he risked being committed to jail for contempt of court.

The government recently put December 2012 as the deadline for the registration of SIM cards in Kenya. The exercise was initially postponed for almost 3 times before the December 31 2012 date. The mobile phone operators have failed to switch off the unregistered SIM cards and now PS Bitange Ndemo has gone mad make all manner of FAKE declarations and issuing warnings to everyone but the operators.

Mobile Operators Are Not Ready To Switch-Off Fake Phones

PS Bitange Ndemo has warned subscribers who have not registered their SIM cards that they risk 3 years in jail or Ksh 300,000. The PS say that he has submitted the regulations with the AG and they will be gazetted on Friday. It is not clear who arre these people who have not registered their SIM cards. They might be dead or alive but they surely cannot be blamed.

CCK Chicken Out Of Switching Off Fake Handsets Again

First, Bitange Ndemo or the government has no powers to take anyone to court for not registering his/her SIM card. The government cannot jail 6 million Kenyans. Let no fool cheat you that it is possible. The smartest thing to do in the registration of SIM cards is that the operators switch-off the unregistered SIM cards. South Africa did it and Kenya can do it. Uganda has promised to do it by July 2013.

Uganda To Switch Off Fake Phones By July 2013

We just don’t have leaders willing to do it. Ndemo is the wrong person to implement this because he is in the pocket of most operators, especially the big ones

Communications Commission of Kenya has announced that it will go ahead with its plans to switch off all unregistered SIM-cards in Kenya. The regulator has revealed that the strong one month media campaign has seen the SIM-card registration rise from 70% of subscribers to 80.4% in just one month.

Safaricom has the highest percentage of SIM-card registration at 85.2% while Orange Kenya lag behind at just 63.7% as at 28 December 2012. Total subscribers in the country is now at 30.8 million of which only 6 million are not registered.

CCK has promised that it will move to switch off all the unregistered SIM-cards.

So Safaricom launched its much rumoured product, mShwari (should we write it as MShwari, Mshwari or mShwari?), at an event which lasted for half a day at the Prestigious Windsor Golf and Country Club. At the event, Safaricom touted the product as “the next big thing” after m-Pesa.

mShwari is a savings and credit product targeted at the low income earners. Users would be able to save from a minimum of just Ksh 1 and qualify to borrow from a minimum of Ksh 100 depending on the credit rating of the user. The credit rating of the user will be generated automatically depending on how she/he saves and withdraws from the mShwari facility. Safaricom will charge a “facilitation fee” (not interest rate) of 7.5% of the borrowed amount. This will be adjusted depending on whether the subscriber score positively during saving and repayments.

mShwari Teaser

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1pXY6O4tNs

The product is not new since Airtel launched the Kopa Chapaa product early this year. Kopa Chapaa gives loans of between Ksh 1,000 and 10,000. It is a service between Faulu Kenya and Airtel Kenya. Kopa Chapaa has a repayment period of 10 days while mShwari has a repayment period of 30 days.

To qualify for credit on Kopa Chapaa, Airtel Kenya want you to have been on the Airtel Money for at-least 6 months and performed at-least two transactions. Kopa Chapaa’s interest (or facilitation fee) is higher at 8.5% of the principle amount.

• M-Shwari is a paperless
• M-Shwari’s interest on savings are better than those of banks
• Interest is calculated daily and paid out at the end of every three months
• There is no minimum balance on M-Shwari.
• There are no ledger fees.
• There are no withdrawal charges in moving money between M-Shwari account and M-PESA.

mShwari is also a saving product where interest earned is calculated as below

• Ksh 1 -­ 10,000 2%
• Ksh 10,001-­ 20,000 3%
• Ksh 20,001 -­ 50,000 4%
• Ksh above  50,001 -­ 5%

There are no ledger fees, limits on the number of withdrawals, minimum balance nor charges on deposits for M-Pesa to M-Shwari account. If you have not paid your loan within 30 days, your loan repayment period will be extended for another 30 days and you will be charged an additional 7.5% facilitation fee on your outstanding loan balance.

Early repayment of mShwari loans will increase your future loan limit qualification. Your loan limit is dependent on your previous loan repayment behaviour and usage of other Safaricom services such as Voice, DATA and M-PESA.

To support the monitoring and tracking of defaulters, Ministry of Immigrations and Registration of Persons has unveiled a Integrated Population Registration System (DIPRS) database. The database will have all details of Kenyans who are a live and the dead.

Safaricom is very cunning, with mShwari, it has just got money to finance its ambitious data infrastracture throughout the country. With more than Ksh 200 billion reported as being hidden below mattresses, stones and on roofs, Safaricom can easily get Ksh 100 billion of this and just get the Ksh 2 billion it need for the Fibre rollout from that.

It just makes me sad on who really owns Safaricom and M-Pesa. Kenyan government is just making a big mistake letting Vodafone own M-Pesa for so long. The presence of British High Comissioner, H. Turner, at the M-Shwari was such a strong statement to Kenyans on who is really going to laugh in all these massive “innovations.”

Albert Einstein once said, “to raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and it marks real advancement.” These words contain in them a message and a philosophy that we at Safaricom uphold; that to truly add value to the lives of our customers we have to be innovative.

The launch of a new product is commonplace for many companies. For us, a new product means new solutions, new possibilities, and real advancement.

For Safaricom, our satisfaction is in seeing our customers’ lives transformed by our products. We listen closely to our customers so that we can provide viable solutions for them. That is how we measure advancement.

We brought you M-PESA, which singlehandedly revolutionized how 15 million Kenyansmove money around. We are proud of what M-PESA has done and continues to do. Butnow Ladies and gentlemen, we are looking beyond M-PESA. We are creating solutions to other existing problems.

Today, we are proud to be introducing our new life-changing product. In the past few years, we have spoken proudly of financial inclusion in Kenya. However, the numbers on the ground seem to contradict our excitement. In a population of 20 million adults, only 10 million Kenyans have access to formal financial services. This means that almost half of the adult population in the country does not have access to the important ingredient necessary for economic growth.

Research suggests that only 6 million Kenyans hold the 12 million bank accounts we have. What these figures do not capture is the funds that do not make it into the formal banking system. I am talking about money that is hidden away in the layers of the mattresses, lockboxes, and some even buried away in the ground.

What is even more startling is the amount of unbanked money. Research indicates that a staggering 200 billion shillings remains unbanked, not earning interest and not generating much value to their owners. . More importantly however, these funds are not safe.

Financial inclusion is as fundamental a human right as any other. We are all well aware of the link between financial inclusion and poverty alleviation. The fact that half of our adult population cannot access formal financial services is dispiriting in the country’s journey towards Vision 2030.

Looking at all this, one would confidently argue that there indeed is a gap staring at us even as we speak proudly of ‘financial inclusion’. It is said that inclusive societies are accessible societies. We therefore need viable ways to help the unbanked save efficiently and safely.

The product we launch today provides an answer to all these issues. This product is a starting point to getting this money out of the mattresses and placing it where it generates interest and adds value to its owners. Safaricom is proud today to present M-Shwari.

M-Shwari, an innovative tool that enables people to save and borrow money using their mobile phones. We have partnered with Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA) to bring you a product that will give poor Kenyans access to affordable loans based on their savings.We believe that it will transform lives by providing financial access for all and enhancing the culture of saving among Kenyans while providing the poor with access to affordable credit.

This is a product that will make our customers’ money work for them, no matter how little or how much.  With M-Shwari, one can save as little as 1 shilling and borrow as low as 100 shillings.

M-Shwari will go long way in sustaining many poor Kenyan families by providing a seamless avenue to save, earn interest, and borrow without loss of dignity. We know that the future is never ours to predict, and that emergencies like sickness or death are inevitable. For those with access to formal banking services, banks often come to the rescue. However, for the millions of the unbanked, shylocks and the kiosk owners are the redeemers. On tough days, M-Shwari will be there to provide micro-credit services at a minimum of Ksh100 anytime. The loan shall be transferred instantly to the customer’s M-Pesa account.

Many unbanked adults talk about distance from the banks and opening balances as impeding factors. M-Shwari will require no minimum balance. There will be no charges for moving money from M-Pesa to M-Shwari and vice-versa. There will be no need to fill in a paper, form or produce identity cards to access these services. Simply put, there will be no excuse for anyone to save money under a pillow, in a mattress or lock box

Financially inclusive societies create and unleash the potential for all to contribute to prosperity and stability in development. That is what we at Safaricom want to achieve with our M-Shwari product. We know the possibilities for the creation of wealth and reduction of poverty. We know the difference it can make if the millions of men and women who are excluded from financial services have access to them.

That is why we are proud of M-Shwari because it will ensure that financial services are not an exclusive preserve for a few, but an accessible service for all.

As I conclude, I would like to thank Commercial Bank of Africa for walking this journey with us. Without them, this product would not be possible. CBA has always taken a chance with Safaricom from when we launched what would become our most celebrated product, M-PESA to today when we are launching an equally transformative product. CBA, we are grateful for your partnership and just as equally thankful for the role you have played in bringing financial inclusion to all Kenyans.

I would also like to thank the Government of Kenya and particularly the Central Bank of Kenya and ministry of Finance.  These two government vehicles have been forward thinking in harnessing the power of mobile technology for financial inclusion. To the Ministry of Information and Communications, thank you for fostering an innovative ICT sector.

Thank you all for encouraging mobile operators to be more innovative in delivering products that add value to our lives.

Asanteni sana.

Safaricom is planning to further its goal of financial inclusion by launching a mobile money based credit scheme. The mobile services provider will be launching a service called M-Shwari which, from the explanations, look like a replacement to M-Kesho (done in partnership with Equity Bank).

According to an insider at Safaricom, “M-Shwari is an enhancement of M-Kesho.”

The service  is not only a credit scheme but also a savings scheme according to an insider at Safaricom. The service is a partnership between Safaricom and CBA where users will save a minimum of Ksh 10 to be able to enjoy credit facilities from the service. The users will be able to gain credit after a minimum of 6 months usage. The credit facilities will be accorded to the users who will met some minimum conditions during the 6-months usage. It will also vary on the usage of the service.

I have just been informed that a saving of between Ksh 10 – 10,000 will attract an interest of up to 2% (not clear if it is per year or per month).

This move might scare banks with many which have feared that M-Pesa is replacing banks. Banks have previously called for the regulation and control of what can be done of M-Pesa citing reasons as flimsy as that “M-Pesa is unsafe.”

Let’s wait for the launch tomorrow and get the details.

India’s Vodafone and ICICI Bank have reportedly entered into an alliance to launch the ground-breaking mobile money transfer service, M-Pesa, in the Asian economic powerhouse by year-end.

According to India’s Economic Times publication, “the service will be launched through Mobile Commerce Solutions, a Vodafone India subsidiary, and ICICI Bank. It would comprise a mobile money account with ICICI Bank and a Mobile Wallet issued by MCSL.”

The revelations were made by Vodafone India CEO Marten Pieters and ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar.

This is the first time the service will be launched in India. The service is being used in Afghanistan. M-Pesa enables subscribers to deposit or withdraw cash from special agents, transfer money to any mobile phone or partners’ bank accounts, make payments at select shops and avail of a wide range of mobile payment services like mobile or DTH recharge and utility bills.

The service will initially be launched in India’s West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand and eventually rolled out in other parts of subcontinent.

When they come to Africa, they potray power problems as an African problems. But today you can see that it is not an African problem per se. Safaricom has just said that M-Pesa has suffered complete outage due to a power problem on a Vodafone server in Germany.

READ: As M-Pesa Celebrates 5 Years Since Launch In Kenya, Here Are My Thoughts

Commenting on the development, Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore has said;

“Our technical teams both here and in Germany are working to restore normal services as soon as possible. However, we expect services to resume later on today (Sunday). We regret the inconvenience caused.”

It just makes not much sense why MPesa is still hosted in Germany? Maybe Vodafone is justifying why they need the license fee.

InMobi is shutting down its offices in Africa. The India based mobile advertising company could not survive the Googles and Facebook in Africa. The company spent lots of money events which seemingly did not give them returns. Now things are thick and the company is shutting down.

The sales guy was the clueless Moses Kemibaro and the President for Africa was Isis Nyong’o. Ok tell what startup Isis really propelled to greater heights? Isis was recruited from Google Africa. What magic did Isis do at Google? None. Him and John Mucheru were on free roll. There is no magic they did and none was needed because Google still is a monopoly on many fronts.

Funny enough is that even with her contacts at Google, Isis has not helped InMobi. The company could just not make it in the continent. InMobi even charged lower than Google on impressions and clicks but still Google and Facebook used their giant advantages to kill them off.

What could have made InMobi popular in the continent was more responsive sites and mobile apps. The web developers in the continent, Moses Kemibaro being a part owner of one such company, are not doing enough to deploy websites which are responsive to mobile and various desktop needs. There is also not much acceptance of mobile apps in Africa made by Africans. The apps popular in the continent are developed in Europe, US and India. That has meant that InMobi had not much partnerships with local developers which was mutually beneficial.

InMobi had huge investments in Africa. First the company had investors like Kleiner Perkins Caufield  & Byers , SoftBank, Sherpalo, Ventures and Mumbai Angels. Kleiner Perkins Caufield  & Byers together with Sherpalo invested more than $15 million in the company in 2010 while Japan’s Softbank pumped-in more than $200 million in mobile ad behemoth. Mumbai Angels added another $500,000 to the investments and that meant that the company was more liquid.

InMobi has maintained offices in London, San Francisco, Bangalore, Tokyo, Nairobi, Cape Town and Singapore. The two African offices are to be closed and few of the senior staff who made the decisions leading to InMobi’s poor performance in the continent have the options to be deployed in the London office or be retrenched.

It is very hard to verify this but according to the company’s website, InMobi serves 485 million mobile ad consumers in 165 countries delivering an impressive 93.4 billion mobile ad impressions every month. InMobi has also indicated that they reach over 30 million clients in Africa with 99% of its ad impressions in Kenya being from mobile websites not apps. The most popular handsets are Nokia 1680 with 12%, Nokia C1-01 with 5.8%, Alcatel comes third and other Nokia mobile phone models takes up the rest. The mobile ads the company delivers still serves feature phones. What kind of mobile advert do you deliver to Nokia 1680? That is how pathetic it was for InMobi in Africa.

There are issues which the company should have addressed including enhancing mobile web development and looking at what would have helped mobile app developers get their apps accepted. InMobi partnered more with competitions and not dealt with the issue of user experience. iHub was their main venue which was not going to help the company since the people who are at iHub are mostly techies and generally not the bulk of the consumers. InMobi made a mistake to partner with more techies focused events ignoring the real users of mobile apps.

However, Africa still accounted for 10% of InMobi’s total business. It might be decreasing or just stagnant. Investors might be demanding more. We are waiting for a word from InMobi. InMobi also plans to close its Russian offices.

Through a statement, the company said;

“We are changing the way we service the Africa and Russia markets. InMobi will continue to service any markets affected by these changes through centralised sales teams located in our regional centres.”

Mobile ads still cannot compete with TV, outdoor,  radio and print on the continent despite mobile phone having the second biggest reach after radio in the continent.

UPDATE:

Just received this email which looks like a threat of lawsuit. I have an opinion and I maintain it.

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Chris Davies <@inmobi.com>
Date: Wed, Oct 24, 2012 at 6:04 PM
Subject: Re: TechMtaa article of 24 October by Robert Alai
To: ” @techmtaa.com” < @techmtaa.com>

Dear Sirs

We refer to the article by Robert Alai entitled “This is why InMobi was not going to make it in Africa” at:

http://www.techmtaa.com/2012/10/24/this-is-why-inmobi-was-not-going-to-make-it-in-africa/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TechMtaa+%28+Tech+Mtaa%29

We consider that there are a number of defamatory statements contained in this article relating to InMobi employees Isis Nyong’o and Moses Kemibaro.

Whilst we have no objection to the publication of comments and articles on recent developments in Africa in relation to InMobi, we consider the statements on Isis Nyong’o and Moses Kemibaro to be highly defamatory.

We therefore request that the paragraphs relating to the two InMobi employees are removed from the article  immediately and no later than 24 hours from the date of this email.

We reserve the right to instruct our local lawyers to immediately issue proceedings against your website and the author of the article in the event of failure to remove these defamatory statements within this stipulated timeframe.

Yours faithfully

Chris Davies

General Counsel, EMEA

InMobi

Orange Kenya  has now simplified its data offerings as part of the firm’s recent bundle alignment. This will see customers have the same data bundles and prices across all Orange networks.

With the alignment, the company will now offer 50 MB, 100 MB, 500MB, 1GB, 5GB, 10GB, 15GB and 20 GB bundles on offer.

The company’s CEO, Mikhael Ghossein, has revealed that Orange is “already working on expanding its current networks into previously unreached locations as well as strengthening the same in towns and areas where customers are already enjoying the Orange network.”

Without withdrawing the unlimited bundles, Orange Kenya has now adjusted the price of the 7 days unlimited bundle from KSh 990 to KSh1,200.

Commenting on this, Ghossein said;

“While we appreciate the positive uptake of our unlimited offering on this network by our customers, the increased level of investment and expansion that we have already begun has necessitated this change. This review took into consideration the quality of service that we offer to our customers vis a vis the cost of continued upgrade of our transmission backbones and networks.”

Orange has also made a marginal increase in the price of its Daily unlimited bundle from the current KSh 39 to KSh 50 The price adjustments take effect on 23rd October 2012.

Looks like a very unlikely weapon is becoming a great tool in fighting Malaria, the cellphone.

According to Harvard researchers, scientists can track the spread of malaria in Kenya using phone calls and text messages.

Quoting study author Caroline Buckee, the report reads;

“Before mobile phones, we had proxies for human travel, like road networks, census data and small-scale GPS studies. But now that mobile phones have spread throughout the world, we can start using these massive amounts of data to quantify human movements on a larger scale and couple this data with knowledge of infection risk.”

The researchers used mobile phone records from June 2008 and June 2009 to track the calls and SMS details from a sample group among 15 million Kenyan mobile phone subscribers. The scientists then compared the volume of subscribers in an area to the area’s known malaria prevalence.

By studying the networks of human and parasite movement, the team of researchers determined the primary sources of malaria and who would become the most likely victim.

The results which were published in the journal Science, reveal that malaria infections and transmission within Kenya is dominated by travel from Lake Victoria on the country’s western edge to the more central capital city of Nairobi.  The study also reveal that the involuntary human carriers of the malaria parasite outnumber the flying limits of mosquitoes in endemic regions.

Journal Science quotes Dr Dr. William Schaffner,

“How travelers acquire malaria elsewhere and bring it home has been mostly surmised from expert knowledge and judgment. Here we’ve used this unrelated cell phone technology.”

yuMobile has today its BlackBerry services targeting the entry level users. The service which the operator bills as the “cheapest in the country” is going live for the first time to the subscribers on the network.

BlackBerry services is an integrated solution which combines various services like email and messaging, social networking, phone, organizer, web, multimedia and other mobile business and lifestyle applications on to the smartphone. All the services can be accessed on the go through the BlackBerry smartphones. The services also allow individual subscribers or company workers to access e-mail, phone, text messaging, Internet, organizer and corporate data applications from a single, integrated device.

As at launch, yuMobile is giving giving away two months free subscription on the BB complete plan upon purchase of a brand new device from its any of its retail centres in Kenya.

Some of the BlackBerry devices which are BlackBerry® Bold 9900, Bold 9780, Curve 8520 and Torch 9800. The handsets will not be locked to the network and customers will choose from eight distinct plans.

Orange Kenya has today unveiled an advance airtime top-up benefit, PEWA that will enable its customers to receive emergency credit.

The company CEO Mickael Ghossein said that the service will provide advance credit to subscribers, payable within 24 hours with no interest charged.

PEWA credit will be valid for 90 days and can be accessed by customers who have less than KSh5 on their mobile phones. The lending category will allow Orange customers to borrow KSh15.

To access the benefit, Orange subscribers will need to dial *133#. PEWA can be used for both on-net and off-net calls; SMSs, Data, as well as other value added services including subscription to free calls on Holla, the company’s flagship all inclusive daily bundled offer.

PEWA, which can be accessed by Orange Mobile prepaid customers, will be free for the first 24-hours after the issuance of the credit advance, after which a service charge of 10 per cent will be charged.

Through a statement , Airtel Kenya managing Director Shivan Bhargava said that the zero transaction charge applied to any amount sent to recipients on any network in Kenya.

Airtel has a current countrywide Airtel Money agent base of more than 6,000 agents which is expected to grow to 8,000 by the end of the year. There are also corporate agents like Posta, Uchumi Supermarkets, Pep Intermedius (Nakumatt), Tuskys, Muramati Sacco, Housing Finance, Cooperative Bank and Faulu Bank.

Airtel Money customers can also withdraw money from their accounts at any Pesa Point and Family bank ATMs countrywide without the need of an ATM card.

The customers can now dial *222# to access more information on Airtel Money such as agent locations and account information.

Regular money transfer users can send up to Kshs 10,000.00 per month and will will make savings of Kshs400 on sending fees per month which translates to 4% savings on money sent.

Airtel Money Tariff Guide

Tanzania’s mobile phone services operator, Vodacom , through its M-Pesa service has today made it possible for M-Pesa users to buy insurance plans and pay for their premiums through the M-Pesa service electronically.

The operator has partnered with the country’s leading insurance services provider, Heritage Insurance, to launch Faraja Insurance, a funeral benefit policy that pays a cash amount to the nominated beneficiary of the insured M-pesa user  to assist with funeral expenses.

Faraja has various cover options to suit the needs and the budget  of all M-pesa users.

Vodacom Tanzania’s Managing Director Rene Meza says monthly premiums for Faraja range from as little as Tsh 2,000 per month to Tsh 9,800 per month. Benefits, range from Tshs 500,000 to as much as Tshs 8,000,000.

Faraja Insurance gives individuals the option of  changing or upgrading their policies  to those with higher benefits as their needs and budgets change through life.

Vodacom is also offering free cover to M-PESA customers. Meza says, “ All our customers who do at least 10 M-Pesa money transfers in one month , will receive free insurance cover worth Tsh200,000 in the following month”.

“The unique aspect of this service is that there is no paper work required to register for the benefit. A customer  simply dials the M-pesa menu *150*00# and selects the “Insurance” option to purchase their preferred  policy. Vodacom is committed to ensuring that all M-pesa customers, can easily access our services anytime, anywhere that is convenient, brining access to insurance to millions of M-pesa customers” Meza says.

Claims will be processed within 72 hours upon provision of the required documentation and will be made directly into the beneficiaries’ M-PESA account .

Meza  goes on to say,”  that it is important for customers  to confirm that their  details are correct and also to  understand the terms and conditions of the policy which are available in the Faraja brochures available at the M-PESA agents or on the Vodacom and Heritage web sites.”

Going forward, this partnership will see M-Pesa users enjoying even more insurance products.

For more information on the service, customers can call 0764300001 toll-free anytime or pick a brochure from any M-Pesa agent.

A former Uganda’s administrative capital’s Kampala mayor, Al Haji Nasser Ntege Sebaggala, on Thursday stormed a mobile phone operator’s offices demanding all audio recordings containing caller tunes in his voice. Ssebaggala has taken MTN to court over ringtones which are in his voice.

According to New Vision daily, Ssebaggala plan to use the recordings as evidence in a suit filed in Kampala on July 13th of which he has sued MTN claiming up to Ush 2 billion. Mr Ssebaggala claim that the operator infringed on his copyright by using his speeches as ringtones without his express permission.

The ex-mayor is said to be demanding a 20% monthly interest on the ascertained audited figure, together with a 20% monthly interest on damages and costs of the suit, from the date of judgment until full payment.

More

Pic

Samsung is looking to make a name tagging on the coat tails of Apple. After the court fights which found that Samsung copied Apple’s innovations in almost every sense, the company is now resorting to making adverts mocking Apple fans and products hoping to gain some acceptance with the Apple fanatics.

Samsung Ad

Apple fan-boys response

The new 90-second ad making a debut on US networks tonight show iPhone enthusiasts queuing for the iPhone 5 and taunts them by showing off what the Samsung guys think at the new cool features of the Galaxy S III.

The desperation of Samsung might just work against them sooner rather than later. Apple still tops in every sense while Samsung has all the money to waste on marketing.

Watch the video;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf5-Prx19ZM

Airtel Kenya and Postal Corporation Kenya Limited have today announced a countrywide partnership that will see Airtel Money Customers access Airtel Money services in all 465 Posta outlets countrywide.

Commenting on the development, AIrtel Kenya CEO Shivan Bhargava said;

“This partnership with Posta marks yet another great stride in deepening the availability and accessibility of Airtel Money to our customers throughout Kenya. With the 465 Posta branches spread across the country offers Airtel Money customers a guaranteed access to deposit and withdraw money, making it easier for them send and receive cash to and from anyone in Kenya.”

Mr. Bhargava added that the company will also put emphasis on the education of its customers on the benefits of using Airtel Money mobile commerce solutions emphasizing that the product that uses the Kiswahili tagline ‘pesa mkononi’ laterally translated to mean “money in your hands” will continue to offer locally relevant and simplified M-Commerce solutions with more partners like Posta thereby enhancing the daily lives of our customers in our true Kenyan spirit.

Airtel Money currently has more than 6,000 agents countrywide and the number is expected to grow to 8,000 by the end of the year. The vast dealer network has now been complimented by corporate agents to enhance availability and reliability of the services countrywide. These include Uchumi Supermarkets, Pep Intermedius (Nakumatt), Tuskys, Muramati Sacco, Housing Finance, Cooperative Bank and Faulu Bank.

Customers can also withdraw money from their Airtel Money accounts at any Pesa Point and Family bank ATMs countrywide without needing an ATM card giving Airtel Money a strong countrywide presence to the benefit of its customers.

Orange has today launched a genuine mobile handsets campaign dubbed Chagua Original through which subscribers will be able to purchase 3G-enabled devices at discounted prices of up to 60 per cent.

During the campaign period subscribers purchasing smartphones or 3G devices at all Orange shops will also benefit from one month free internet access as well as free access to Wikipedia and Facebook.

The devices that form part of the Chagua Original promotion range in prices from Kshs 599 (down from the earlier price of Kshs 999) for the ZTE S309 handset to the ZTE San Francisco retailing at Kshs 7,999 (down from Kshs 9,999). Also on offer is the recently launched Huawei Gaga which goes for Kshs 5,999 (instead of Kshs 8,799).

The Chagua Original promotion comes just a month ahead of the government’s move to switch-off all counterfeit devices on all of the country’s four mobile networks by September 30 this year.

The telecoms industry regulator Communications Commission of Kenya’s (CCK) has recently announced that all devices with non-authentic Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers would be disconnected from networks by September 30.

The IMEI number – the 15-digit code that every mobile handset is always assigned upon manufacture by the vendor – can be obtained by dialing *#06# or printed under battery for some models.

When say a subscriber loses a handset, the subscriber can call the mobile network provider and instruct them to blacklist the phone using its IMEI number, thereby rendering the phone useless on that particular network as well as other networks, whether the SIM is changed or not.

To check if a phone is counterfeit, any user can send its phone IMEI number to 1555, and will automatically receive an answer. The CCK campaign, which began last week, therefore aims to guard against mobile phone theft as well entry of substandard devices into the country.

The Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) plans to will punish operators for sending out unsolicited messages and caller ring-back tunes.

UCC Executive Director Godfrey Mutaabazi has revealed that the regulator has warned all operators in the country to desist from spamming subscribers with unsolicited messages.

The directive is targeted at curbing the malpractices common among the Premium SMS Services Providers (PRSPs). Ugandans have been complaining of being subscribed to services they do not ask for while huge amounts are amounts are being deducted from subscribers’ accounts for the messages received.

According to a UCC Consumer Complaint report released last week, Warid Telecom, Airtel Uganda Ltd and MTN posted poor ratings. In the report, basing on a scale of 30 respondents who were interviewed, 100 per cent complained about the increased caller ring-back tunes while 90 per cent protested the increased unsolicited SMS.

IMG

MTN South Africa has with reduced its data rates as the country’s operators fight for a piece of the piece of the data market in the country.

With immediate effect 500MB data bundle will retail at at R49 from a previous high of R189 (Ksh 1,900) monthly in a two year contract. The offer is bundled with a 14.4Mbps MTN F@stlink E352 modem.

This is competitive considering that the same bundle of 500 meg goes for R 149(Ksh 1,500) and R69 (Ksh 700) at Cell C while 8ta has only a 650MB data bundle which retails at R150 (1,500) per month.

South Africa has close to 30 million mobile subscribers.

Looks like Rene Meza is taking the low tariff focused competition to Tanzania. Just after Airtel Tanzania reduced its BlackBerry rates, Vodacom has reduced its pre-paid BlackBerry subscription rates for 7 and 30 days.

Subscribers will now pay Tsh 7,000 for weekly subscription and Tsh 20,000 for monthly subscription with the clients required to dial *149*01# to get the subscription options.

The rates were Tsh 15,200 for weekly subscription and Tsh 36,000 for monthly subscription.

GREAT!!

Ask today’s tech savvy Kenyan to mention any budget phone and the likes of Galaxy Pocket, Huawei Gaga, LG Optimus L3 and other droids of the same caliber won’t miss in the list. Has anyone however taken time to look at what Nokia has to offer?  The Nokia Asha 302 for instance comes in the same price range and outperforms most of the droids in certain aspects.

From my week long experience with the Nokia Asha 302, I wouldn’t put it in the category of low end devices despite its attendant low price tag. The Galaxy Pocket, Huawei Gaga and the LG Optimus in comparison are tagged ‘low end smartphones’ by their manufacturers. In the smartphone world, this generally places them in the category of foot soldiers; they absolutely won’t surprise you with any bells or whistles.

The Asha on the other hand mimics the Nokia Symbian S60 but not completely. You won’t find a quad-core processor thrown in there, but it’s sure to give you certified S40 performance. In its price range, the Nokia Asha 302 comes second to none. It’s a head-turner, it boasts of a bold premium look and verve under the hood that is sure to charm a startup entrepreneur or an already established CEO in equal measure.

Do you recall the looks of the good old Nokia E6? Yeah; if the two ‘siblings’ were laid down side by side, many wouldn’t notice the difference despite the Nokia E6 still going strong at an average price of Ksh. 30,000.

In contrast to the other competing droids, the Nokia Asha 302 comes with a physical QWERTY keypad that has generously spaced keys, satisfactory tactile feedback and thank God the keys are plastic, not rubber. This makes texting on the Nokia Asha 302 quite a breeze. It almost makes you never look forward to tapping on those cramped onscreen keyboards  of the Galaxy Pocket and Huawei Gaga (The Optimus differentiates itself by coming in a slightly bigger screen!)

Of course no one wants to carry around a battery that goes from green to yellow then to red faster than traffic lights, that’s what capacitors were invented for! The 1320mAh battery of the Nokia Asha 302 lasted me two full days before asking for a charger, during which I was making calls (at most 30minutes a day), texting all day and occasionally checking Facebook and Twitter updates as well as rather ‘aggressively’ browsing blogs and news sites on the Opera Mini browser.

On a similar review of the Samsung Galaxy Pocket, all these activities drained the battery by the end of the day. Other than the LG Optimus L3 (which differentiates itself by its higher capacity battery and has received great scores for it) most competing low end droids seem to have inherited battery problems from their predecessors. The Galaxy Pocket gets it from Galaxy Y and Huawei Gaga from Huawei Ideos, you see the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

How does the Nokia Asha 302 do its math? With a 1 GHz ARM 11 processor, the same processor that ships in with high end Nokia smartphones (Nokia 500, 600 and 700); the phone is very responsive to say the least (I know, I know…Android fan boys and girls can easily overclock their Pockets and Gagas to par with the Asha’s so be nice with your comments).

Before making a hasty move to get that droid, why not consider the uncelebrated but loyal companion in the Nokia Asha 302? It is designed to be a messenger, to pick and make calls all day without turning up its nose. The call quality is exceptionally good although it doesn’t come with any special technologies for its microphone and earpiece. Above all else it is fast, the battery is great, and has more pixels per inch on its screen thus making images and text appear sharper when compared to those of the competing droids.

Do you think the ‘low end smartphones’ engineered for emerging markets in Africa and Asia are worth their price tags?

Microsoft and Nokia have controlled computing and telephony lives of African for the longest time ever. Despite this dominance, not much linkages and relationships which benefit both the African techies and the vendors have been built.

I find it odd that we must continue depending on Microsoft and Nokia while Microsoft never saw it best to build platforms where developers in Africa can create solutions and make money. Instead, Microsoft sought to colonise Africa by even trying to create end user applications for businesses which it could have had the developers create.

When Microsoft introduced its much sought after certifications in Africa, they mainly concentrated on teaching students how to install Microsoft software and not on how to create solutions which might interest anyone. Competing application on the Windows platform have not been appreciated with Microsoft bundling Windows with every suite they see will face challenges from developers. Microsoft has tried to do everything instead of creating platforms where the where the food-chain is beneficial to everyone.

For starters, Microsoft suites still cost way beyond the means of many Africans. That is why piracy in the continent for Windows solutions is way about 75% on average. The continent is hooked on the solution like it is some drug but few smart Africans have started moving to open source or Apple’s iOS platform which has few users bbut developers make good money from the platform.

Microsoft’s partnership with Nokia to deploy the next mobile computing ecosystem is getting jammed by a fumble here and there. I doubt if this quest will achieve much because both companies still have their minds on the gutter in regards to what the current user wants. Both companies believe that glossy software and hardware will do the trick. That worked in the initial stages of mobile revolution but will not work now.

Connection has been initiated and so the two companies must not try to develop the next social media which they can control. What users need is a plug to the existing platforms with little tweaks here and there. Re-invention of the wheel is going to be an exercise in futility.

Tell me African techies, what has Microsoft done to you? What changes have Microsoft made to have you utilise the Windows platform, which you have been loyal to since the advent of computers, to make money. What has Nokia – which dethroned the likes of Motorola, Sagem and Siemens to become the African phone of choice- done to you? How many Africans are making money from platforms controlled by Nokia and Microsoft? Why should Microsoft pretend that they are having a marriage of convenience which looks doomed from the word go and we should support them?